Leominster Hospital Nurses Petition Proposed Staffing Cuts
Tuesday, September 09, 2014
This petition calls for the hospital’s management to rescind their proposal because if passed, it will degrade the quality and safety of care for every patient that enters the hospital.
“The Health Alliance administration continues to be unresponsive to our concerns about these changes and what they could mean for our patients,” said Natalie M. Pereira, a nurse at the hospital and chair of the nurses’ local bargaining unit with the Massachusetts Nurses Association/National Nurses United. “We have circulated the petition and will deliver it to Ms. Weymouth to show the depth of opposition within the Leominster Hospital nursing community to this misguided plan and to ask for immediate and real action to avert this crisis. As nurses, we provide 90 percent of the clinical care our patients receive and understand more than anyone else in this system what they need to be safe and receive the care they deserve. As the leader of this organization, we believe our CEO needs to hear what we have to say unfiltered by lower level managers and corporate attorneys.”
A total of 233 nurses – which represents almost 90-percent of the nurses at the hospital – signed the petition.
Staff Cuts
Nurses at the hospital are increasingly concerned and upset that CEO Deborah Weymouth – who took over in May – has not participated in any sort of negotiations or set up meetings to hear the nurses concerns.
The hospital’s plan calls for increasing nurses’ patient assignments from five to six on the hospital’s medical-surgical floor, which research shows increases the risk of death for all those patients by 7 to 14-percent. Management is also proposing cuts to ED staffing, which will mean longer wait times for patients, more boarding of patients, and the likelihood that a patient could suffer a complication because of these delays in care.
The hospital’s plan also calls for the merger of the pediatric, labor and delivery, and maternity units, cutting staff on these units, and expecting nurses who currently specialize in each area to cross train to practice in multiple areas. This proposal goes against what the professional standards for maternity and pediatric care show is best for those patients.
Appropriate Staffing Levels
According to Health Alliance Hospital, they are currently taking appropriate staffing levels into account.
Hospital management is sympathetic to the cause of the nurses, but also admit that healthcare is a changing profession. Because of this, staffing levels have to constantly be monitored and adjusted.
“Health Alliance Hospital recognizes and values the contributions of our nurses and all of our caregivers in providing the outstanding care that we are recognized for both locally and nationally,” said Health Alliance Hospital in a statement. “We are committed to maintaining appropriate staffing levels to provide the high level of care that our patients need, expect and deserve every day.”
Related Slideshow: Central MA Non-Profit Hospital CEO Pay, From Least To Most
Here are the total annual compensation amounts for the CEOs of the four non-profit hospital groups in Central Massachusetts. The source is each hospital group’s latest available 990 Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax, which is filed with the IRS and available at Guidestar.org. The CEOs are shown here, from lowest to highest total compensation.
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